Swiss gadget predicts risk of avalanches

The probe is being developed by the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos and is being tested in the US, India and Austria as well as in Switzerland. And Jerome Johnson, a geophysicist with the US army’s Cold Regions Research Laboratory in New Hampshire, is already convinced the technology will be standard issue for avalanche warning centres.

Avalanches are produced by combinations of weather, terrain, and snow type. When snow falls on …